- To celebrate the launch of the third in the Resistance franchise, PlayStation®3 has commissioned immersive theatre specialists, Punchdrunk, to create a unique survival experiment fusing theatre and gaming. The experience will be a UK first, combining inspiration from the US and Japanese traditions of Dark Rides/Walks of Terror. The activity will launch on the 31st August and this ticketed event opens to the public from 1st September to 4th September 2011 at Waterloo Station Arches in London. Tickets are extremely limited.
The central theme of ‘…and darkness descended’ is that the longer you survive, the more you see. Set in an alternate London location that provides a prequel to the beginning of Resistance 3, participants will form part of the ‘resistance’ whose role it is to send a message to US survivors, who we subsequently meet in the beginning sequences of Resistance 3. Echoing the game’s multi-player elements, participant groups will not be able to survive without working together to achieve goals.
Punchdrunk will use ideas and learnings from its previous work – It Felt Like a Kiss (2009) and The Crash of the Elysium (2011) – to create this unique, innovative project. The activity is a marriage of immersive game play with theatrical experience to explore the similarities and differences between the two entertainment genres – both brought together through the medium of fear and survival – a key creative theme within the game.
Speaking on the unique concept Punchdrunk Artistic Director, Felix Barrett, commented “We are fascinated by the level of immersion that is inherent within video games and the possible interface with the real world. We are delighted to be exploring the role of the audience as player, participant and potentially character within a project that transcends theatre and gaming, in particular the visceral potential for a fusion of these two forms. And finally we get a chance to apply PlayStation’s game mechanics and transpose them to a live environment; the emotional and experiential potential of finding yourself within a video game is huge – you are your own avatar.”
For a chance to take part in ‘…and darkness descended’ please register between 19th-25th August 17:00 via www.facebook.com/playstationaccess.
‘…and darkness descended’ – The Narrative:
London has fallen. Society has broken down. The Chimera have ravaged the city and only a few survive. The audience are charged with finding the last pocket of human resistance and sending a vital message to Resistance 3 Hero, Joseph Capelli, to aid his operation in the USA. To complete their mission, participants must work as a team, navigating their way through a disorientating and terrifying environment, encountering the survivors and remnants left in the aftermath of the brutal Chimeran invasion.
Taking PlayStation game mechanics and making them real world, the audience become characters in a narrative which relies upon them in order to move forward. The environment they explore is physically tangible and multi-sensory: lights, sound and smell inspired by Resistance 3 all heighten the level of immersion and pull the audience into this desolate world.
The threat is very real. Not only are the Chimera known to be within the immediate vicinity but the humans who remain have turned to extreme and savage acts in order to ensure their survival.
Just like any PlayStation survival horror game, the ultimate threat is that if the audience fail to escape their enemies, they are eliminated from the experience. Crucially, the success of the mission is in the participants’ hands, it is their responses and reactions which dictate its triumph or failure.
With only their senses and a last, lonely member of the British resistance to guide them, this is a multiplayer experience that initially requires cooperation not competition with your fellow players. Within the high tension environment, a series of tasks empower each individual, and bind the team together.